When a ton of crap is dumped from way high above into the lake of our lives, we rarely worry about the tiny arcing droplets splashing on our face mainly because we’re too busy keeping our boats afloat and our breathing apparatuses above water, but I would like to spotlight a seemingly insignificant drop of moisture pooling at the end of our nose that is destined to affect us for the rest of our natural born days. Namely: the name George. Which is getting such a bad rap these days, it will soon qualify for 12 step status. “Hi, my name’s George and I’m a George.”

“Hi George.”

Even though this honorable moniker stands as a symbol of our country’s birthing struggle due to the father of our nation wrestling its honor from the crazed clutches of King George III, parents must be having second, third and no thoughts whatsoever about naming their kids George lest it be seen as a tacit approval of the ways and means of the current administration.

Hell, I bet the names Mothra, Dweezil and Philomena get better placement in the baby name books than George and/ or Georgette do over the next couple of decades. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear Prince George, British Colombia attempts to change its handle to Margaritaville.

Like the demise of free buffalo chicken wings during happy hour, all it takes is one or two little snortie pigs stuffing the plastic bag-lined pockets of their overcoats to ruin it for everybody. Well, in this case, everybody named George. No, scratch that, I was right the first time: ruin it for everybody. And for lowering the bar on this whole Jorge thing so deep you’d have to dig about six feet under ground just to get a sonar detection on it the responsibility lies with the usual suspects; Presidents number 41 & 43. But god knows, they are not alone.

Earlier this month, the alleged Boy George was busted for allegedly imprisoning an alleged male prostitute and triple extra credit for anybody who can hold that image in their head for more than fifteen seconds, and now… NOW… along comes Medal of Freedom winning (hack) former head of the CIA, George Tenet, who writes a book saying he was never that big of a fan of the Iraqi war, and was a reluctant player, simply going along to get along and now he’s not sure if it was a good idea or not and enh, enhhhh enhh, weh weh weh weh weh, all the way home, and hey!

What’s that noise? Oh, it’s the sound of the final nails being hammered into the George coffin. Dearly beloved, it is my sad duty to inform you, that George, as we know it, is over. Exists no more. Its history. In the archives. Elapsed. Expired. Its gone. Say bye.

This might even prove to be fatal blow. A death knell for the venerable name of George. Kind of like what happened to Attila and Adolf and Dick and Maynard. Of course, pets will still be called George, based on the modern children’s classics: George of the Jungle and Curious George.

While we grown ups can only fantasize about how truly marvelous this world would be, if only we were blessed with a president whose mind had a predilection towards the latter rather than the geography of the former.

Though touted by the Bush administration as the “silver bullet” that will force teenagers to “just say no,” random drug testing is of questionable effectiveness. It is also costly, counterproductive and violates basic American values. That’s why the million-member California State PTA, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Education Association, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, and the majority of the nation’s school districts oppose school-based drug testing.

This is a really awesome organization I just found out about. Greenadelphia! is fighting for urban sustainability and making Philly’s environment better to live in for everyone. There is an Urban Sustainability Forum coming up on May 17 for anyone who’s interested.

Also, All For the Taking fights for affordable housing for everyone and preserving communities. They are currently fighting against plans for casinos to be built in certain neighborhoods. The casinos would break up the communities and cause more housing and poverty issues, and possibly cause gentrification of the areas, which leads to higher rents, pushing low-income families and individuals out and contributing to homelessness.

Today in lit class, we were discussing Brave New World, Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel. We ended up talking about the “system” and how we all buy into it in various ways. It was strange, how everyone in the circle seemed aware of the fact that things are fucked up, but they admitted their complacency. They were okay, comfortable even, with things continuing the way they are; after all, they’re upper-middle class–no worries there. I countered with the fact that they were complacent in their own oppression (oppression of their hopes/dreams/aspiration in this case, not that they’re oppressed by being white or something dumb like that). My teacher mentioned Plato’s allegory of the Cave and explained it to us, but it seemed that my classmates were depressed and cynical about this; one guy said that humanity is hopeless.
I see something different, though: I believe I have escaped from the Cave, and that many others I know, either online (from the blogroll, livejournal, etc), or in real life, have as well. I think there’s hope for humanity; we are curious creatures, and we can make this world a better place. We can reject capitalist notions of “wealth”, and reject white-patriarchal standards of “success”. We can live for art, live for peace, live for love. There are so many strong activists out there that are doing amazing, hard, painful work that aren’t getting recognized because of this prevalence of pragmatism and cynicism.

I’ve read some articles about the protests yesterday, and I am very proud of everyone who participated, because fighting for immigrant rights is really important and benefits us all. However, the fight against unions that has been going on for some time has really affected those workers in professions that traditionally have unions. Here’s an article from Alternet talking about this issue: De-Unionization Hurts Women, Especially Latinas

Although women have made many gains since the 1960s, they must still catch up with men when it comes to equal pay and the benefits that generally accompany it, like educational attainment and access to health insurance, paid leave and other benefits. This is particularly true for women of color, who have the highest levels of disparities in income in comparison to men. In 2006, women overall made 77 percent of men’s annual earnings.